Category Archives: baby

Mother’s Day Nod

I thought I’d take a look back at those very important moments that made me a mom…

39 Weeks with Enzo.  Huuuuuuge.

38 Weeks with Phoebe.  Seriously, I was enormous. No wonder people stared…

Little Enzo baby!

Little Phoebe baby!

I wish those first couple of months (or so) with both kids were easier and that I remembered them with great joy, but they were easily some of the most difficult of my life. Oh how I love both my babies, but postpartum depression and anxiety is no joke.

Motherhood is rarely all rainbows and sunshine, but thankfully the ups tend to cancel out the lows and I’m able to focus more on the moments that make me smile.  I am filled with gratitude every time one of them strokes my hair and tells me they like me a lot or tell me the wonderful gifts they wish to bestow upon me.  They know me really, really well too! Unicorns, jewelry, books… what more does a gal need?  Oh… maybe wine…  have a glass on me, Moms!

 

I will never wash another bottle again.

I can’t remember when exactly Enzo gave up his nighttime bottles, but it was probably shortly before Phoebe was born. We were settling down for our nighttime routine and when I offered him his nightcap, he just sort of shrugged and shook his head.  I’m not sure what exactly made me decide to try and see if Phoebe was ready to give up her bottles or not… she’s pretty attached to her baba.

BabaTime

When we got back from vacation, though, I gave her a sippy with some milk for our nighttime snuggles and she was okay with it.  So, there you go. Granted, there are nights where she gets downright mad that I’m offering her a sippy instead of a bottle, but overall she’s gotten used to it and soon she won’t need it at all.  While it may not seem like a big deal, these moments and milestones can be so bittersweet. How can she be growing up so fast?

Toothbrushin

Maybe that’s why I haven’t been as keen on making her stay in her crib all night and haven’t given a thought to toddler beds or other things that will push infancy further and further behind us.  Enzo was in a toddler bed by 18 months, I think – mostly because he showed readiness and was much happier.  We knew Phoebe was on the way, so we also knew that bedsharing with him wouldn’t be feasible.  While I don’t mind snuggling my kiddos, they are both very active sleepers and would only keep each other (and us) awake all night.  I do know that Enzo gets a tad jealous when he realizes that Phoebe has been sleeping with us, so it is probably an arrangement we will need to change soon.

HolidayColors2

Ugh, they’re growing up so fast, which is both awesome and hard. I’m not a fan of the sassiness and tantrums that come with older toddlers/preschoolers, but I love how imaginative Enzo is and that we can share in things we couldn’t before. I’m grateful that Phoebe is still a snuggler and while I try to keep her a baby as long as possible, each day is exciting as she learns new words and attempts to copy her brother.

Photo Dump

I really need to come up with an alternative to photo “dump.”  I just don’t like that word…  Here we are, though, with a bunch of pictures and no place for them to be, so I’m giving them a home here because I can, and also because I’m not going to be posting as much this month in general.  I’ve decided to change the blog (this time it’ll be the last time), but it will take some time to move everything, so in the meantime I want to focus on that a bit and not add too much more to this blog that will just need to be moved later.  I figure we might as well start off 2015 fresh, so that is my plan.

Anyhoo… pictures!

Petthekitty2

Alas, photos like this are a thing of the past as Enzo is waaay too loud for the cats and Phoebe is now far too mobile and doesn’t understand “gentle.”

Petthekitty1

StairClimbing

Before she was a stair master.  We’ve had a couple of tumbles, but for the most part she can go up and down by herself.

MeatloafNoms

I haven’t done a Munchkin Meals linkup in a bit, but it wouldn’t be much different then before except that Enzo has gotten a tad more picky in many ways and only ever wants pizza.  Go figure.

MuffinNoms

This lady started the day care food program this week, which thankfully saves me some time as I don’t have to pack a lunch for her now.  Food of any kind is hit or miss with Enzo, but Phoebe will try just about anything… at the very least I can count on her to eat all her fruits and veggies, so what more could you want?

FirefighterCuties

These two are still hooked on firetrucks.

FirefighterCuties2jpg

CrazyFireman

Yep.  It’s been a long week with much interrupted sleep, so Happy Tuesday.

Busy Bee

Our little Phoebe has always been a busy bee, but now she’s really into anything and everything, and her frustration grows when she can’t have what she wants or lack of coordination gets in the way. Most of the time she’s as happy as can be, though, just exploring or chasing after her big brother.

BusyBee2

I love to sit and watch her brain work as she carefully picks items up and then thoughtfully examines them before putting them in her mouth to chew on, or perhaps banging them against something else, or if it’s a car decide to take it for a drive.

BusyBee1

It’s always a mystery to me which toys will hold her interest at any given moment, but more often than not she wants what Enzo has because clearly it must be the hot ticket item of the moment or he wouldn’t be playing with it.  We’re also finally at that stage where her big brother can’t just get away with grabbing a toy from her. Some toys she may not care about, but for the most part she wants it back and has no problem trying to take it back. She is no delicate flower.

BusyBee3

Which is good because I want her to be strong and stand up for herself.  We’re now trying to get her brother to stop teaching her how to hit, although it’s really his own fault now when she whacks him for taking her toy.  We’ll keep working on that, and in the meantime keep encouraging them to play together or at least peacefully next to each other occasionally using the same toys.

SillyDaddy3

One great thing about day care is how quickly Enzo learned to play with and share with others.  That doesn’t mean he always shares nicely, but overall he does very well and we know Phoebe will learn to do the same. It’s also nice that we’re able to all play together at the same time and that Phoebe is learning so quickly.  She’s picking up new words almost daily and can point to her nose as well her mouth and say both (well, they mostly sound like they’re supposed to). She also prefers saying “Hi” over “Bye” and likes to wave and give high fives. I can only imagine what I’ll be adding in a few weeks when she’s officially 13 months old.

SillyDaddy

Send coffee… and donuts while you’re at it.

I am especially thankful for a short work week after a not so very restful night… or rather several nights.  We’re adjusting things and hoping that Enzo will not keep fighting bedtime and will also not keep waking up in the middle of the night, but in the meantime, Phoebe has also decided not to sleep through the night.  We’ve all been a bit fussy due to lack of sleep.  Remember moments like this? I do… I do.

SoSleepy

Last night it started with an earlier bedtime for Enzo, however it was still an hour later before he finally stayed put in bed.  We think his clock may be too bright now… go figure.  However, he still woke up at midnight, so I stumbled into his room and ended up laying down with him, only to wake up at 2:00am because I could hear Phoebe squirming and fussing in her crib.  Josh was blissfully sleeping, despite the monitor by his head, so I found her pacifier and crawled back into our bed.  Around 3:00, though, Phoebe was standing up in her crib and fussing.  I may have swatted Josh a few times and told him it was his turn to get up.  Baby girl was wide awake, though. Josh changed her and she continued to stay wide awake in our bed rolling around, crawling on top of us.

Lovemysunngles

Then at around 4:00, I heard Enzo again… he was back and whining at the gate in his doorway.  Up I got, and talked Enzo into crawling back into bed by agreeing to lay down with him again.  He put his hand on my arm this time – probably trying to make sure I wouldn’t get up again.  He fell asleep, though, and aroudn 4:30 I headed back to our bed… only to find Baby Girl had completely taken over my side of the bed.  I gave up and made Josh give up part of his half and managed to close my eyes for half an hour before it was time to get up.  All this to say… I’m tired and really looking forward to a short week even though it won’t mean sleeping in like it would have in the past.  Ha ha.  Maybe we can convince the kiddos to sleep until 6:00 or 7:00 if we’re lucky.  😉

Lovemysnuggles1